Buying exhaust tube ??
 

Over the last few months I have been giving some serious thought into buying a decent mandrel tube bender for fabricating exhaust parts.

As some of you know, decent tube benders don't come cheap but feel one would be a usefull investment for my humble workshop :)

One aspect that is nagging away in the back of my mind is, where the devil can I find a source of coated mild steel & stainless exhaust tube !!??
Guessing that full lengths would be the most cost effective way to buy tube.

Tried a few internet searches but all I keep turning up are those infernal directory search engines :rolleyes:

Living so far out into the sticks puts me at a real dissadvantage when it comes to buying materials

If anyone knows of any exhaust tube supliers I would be pleased to hear about them :)

Only one i can think of at the moment

https://www.europaspares.com/product...AUST_PIPE.html

Yell.com

Steel stockholders, Cornwall 13 hits.

Steel stockholders, Devon 18 hits.

Exhaust manufactures usually supply 2m lengths

Jetex ?

I got everything I need from Jetex

http://www.jetex.co.uk/

I use jetex too,

May not be cost effective for you plans though.

Good fast service though.

TT

Bonzo
give Toptubes a call or a google
they supply aluminised tube for exhausts
cheers les g

Bosal dealers sell pipe or powerflow dealers could bend all you need and as you say Ronnie megabucks for decent bender.

We have a huth bender in the workshop, but it does not produce a nice bend its more like the bend you get on a production aftermaket exhaust system. it tends to throat the pipe a bit. Its ok for trucks and plant but i think for a manifold or the like your better off buying your bends in. My mates got a mandrel bender and its about 20 feet long and needs about 10 feet left clear in the front of it, trouble is the tooling costs a fortune and he has none for exhaust pipes.

http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...3B-MPrJzE3ZU_0

Bob

Thanks for all of the input guys :)

Some good sugestions there.

I can get ERW round tube localy but stainless & alu coated steel is a bit of a problem.

There is a stockist of stainless in Falmouth ( 20 miles'ish ) but his prices are steep to say the least :eek:

Not even sure what grade of stainless is commonly used for exhaust components :o

The whole idea might end up as pie in the sky but kinda thinking of taking a trip up to see Matt at Stakesy's for a demo of the Pro-tools tube bender.

Here's a linky for anyone interested in having a gander.

Pro-Tools Tube Bender

I have had a look at the video clip & it doesn't look to deform the tube too much.
Obviously if it deforms the tube badly then it will be no good for on show, exterior exhaust components ;)

I've looked into cheap tube benders for about 6 months and have come to these results. Manual type draw benders as found on ebay are around £600-700 due to being imported from the states , you need a strong back and it needs bolting to a good concreate floor the dies are around £200-300 each. How ever there is a company 30 miles up the road from me that makes the same bender as the one on ebay for £300 although the dies are still £200-300each.
Second hand powered machines come up at £4500-6000 but most are 3 phase. You'll either need a converter or replace the motor so thats more money on top. Some times it's cheaper just to buy a job lot of prebent tubes and a vertical bandsaw to trim them down and pass the cost on to the punter. Just my thoughts and alittle research of course but may be some thing to think about.